Sheet piling



Aug. 30, 1938. T E, R AY, JR 2,128,428

SHEET- FILING Filed Aug. 18, 1936 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 G Z I L INVENTOR. 720M145 EMU PA Yak BY %mdl W ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 30, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

A common type of piling is made of rolled steel with edges by which adjacent piles are interlocked, various shapes of interlocking edges being used. The rolled Webs are of various cross sections. In some cases fabricated body portions are used instead of plain rolled webs.

Various other structural members are made on the same principle with shaped edges for interlocking or for other purposes. The present invention provides improved structural members of this general class which can be made more cheaply and with greater flexibility in design of the edge portions and distribution of metal in the cross section. The accompanying drawings illustrate certain embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan of a straight flat sheet pile with interlocking edges; Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations showing different embodiments of the same; Fig. 4 is a plan of another style of fiat piling; Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are plans of modifications using a bent or arched web; Fig. 8 is a plan of a pile having a web in the form of an I; Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 are plans of pilings with hollow or multiple ply webs; Figs. 13 and 14 are plans of corner piles; Figs. 15 and 16, of T-piles; Fig. 1'7, of a Y pile; Fig. 18, of a cross pile.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, 3 a sheet pile is illustrated having an elongated rolled steel fiat web or body portion I. At its edges are shaped projections 2 welded to the body portion at 3. The projections in this case are of a thumb and finger type, the bulbous thumb 4 and inwardly curved finger serving to hold between them the thumb of an adjacent pile I which similarly locks the thumb of the first pile I. They constitute the entire effective edge and interlock, holding the piles against relative movement laterally of the line of driven piling, both inward and outward, and also along said line toward and away from each other. Various other interlocking designs are used. Some piles are one sided; that is with a bulb along one edge fitting into a socket along the other edge of the adjacent pile.

The rolling and bending of these complicated shapes involves considerable expense. The quantity of metal at the edges of the cross section is considerably greater than in the body portion or middle and there is sometimes a waste of metal in this respect. According to the present invention one or both of the edge portions are made up of shaped projections formed separately from each other and from the body portion and welded to the latter. For example, the locking members 2 of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are short pieces shaped by rolling, bending or whatever method is suitable to the particular shape and welded to the body portion, edge to edge as illustrated. 'They may be arranged so close to each other, as in Fig. 2, as to constitute a practically or nearly continuous edge portion. Or they may be spaced apart lengthwise as in Fig. 3 where it is desired to reduce the weight of the pile at its edges. The spacing between the successive projections may be increased according to the uses to which they are to be put. There should be at least a slight space between them however as explained in connection with the preferred welding operation below.

In the several modifications illustrated in plan, the same variation in spacing according to the use to which the members are to be put and the method of welding, ispermissible.

Fig. 4 shows a body portion in the form of a plain elongated web l with an offset 6 at one edge for overlapping the edge of the adjacent pile I. The projections 2 have shanks l which are bent at right angles and welded to the faces of the body portion.

According to Fig. 5 the web is bent or arched as it is usually termed, the middle 8 extending parallel to the line formed by the several interlocked piles and the margins 9 in an angular direction transverse thereto. In building a wall with this style of piling the alternate piles are reversed in position as indicated at 8a, 9a, so as to give a corrugated effect which increases the stiffness. 'Fig. 6 has a Web H! with a plurality of corrugations in plan. The adjacent pile may have its web reversed so as to be ofiset horizontally from the first one as indicated in dotted lines at Illa, or may be in the same general line.

Another bent shape is shown in Fig. '7 where the body portion is made of a channel with a web I l and flanges l2, to the outer faces of which are welded the edges of the locking projections 2.

Or the pile may consist as in Fig. 8 of an ordinary rolled I-bearn having a web I3 and double flanges M, the projections 2 being welded to the outer faces of the latter in alignment with the web.

Fig. 9 shows the body portions made of a tube H) which is oblong in cross section, with the projections 2 welded at the opposite smaller ends. Fig. difiers from this only in that the body portion I6 is a cylinder having the projections 2 welded at diametrically opposite points.

Other multiple ply designs of the body portion can be made. In Fig. 11 the body is made of two comparatively thin sheets corrugated and assembled so as to form cylinders I! connected to each other by a double strip l8 and provided with outer flanges l9 to the edges of which the projections 2 are welded. Fig. 12 differs in that one such corrugated strip is assembled with a flat strip 20 to form hollow ribs 2| at one side only of the body. The projections 2 are welded to the double edge of this multiple ply body portion.

For building cofier dams and other structures of interlock sheet piling, special shapes are used at the corners and intersections. Some of these cross sections have been rolled integrally. For other sections, webs have been rolled with a desired shape at one edge only and have been riveted together with the aid of overlapping angle pieces at intervals. Piles of this character can be made more easily and economically according to the present invention. In Fig. 13, for example, the body portion 22 is a web of uniform thick-' ness formed by rolling or bending, and theshaped projections 2 are welded at desired intervals along the length of the two edges.

In Fig. 14 the body portion is a cylinder 23 with the projections 2 welded at intervals along its length on two lines at right angles to each other. These designs, Figs. 13 and 14, are suitable for outside corners. Where an interior transverse wall meets a side of a cofferdam a cylindrical body portion 23 is provided with three lines of locking projections 2 (Fig. 15) welded to it at points 90 degrees apart. For such a location the pile also may be made with a body portion 24, Fig. 16, of T-shape, with projections 2 welded along its several edges. Or where three walls are to radiate from a common point, the shape of Fig. 17 may be used, with a cylindrical body portion 23 and. three lines of locking projections 2 disposed at equal angles around the circumference; from which the adjacent piles extend in radial directions. Similarly where a rectangular crossing is needed the design of Fig. 18 might be used with a cylindrical body portion 23 and. four lines of projections 2 welded at equal angles around it.

Various methods of welding the projections. to the body portion may be used.

For example, the central portion I may be gripped between two pairs of electrodes, and the projections 2 may be gripped to a movable electrode and then brought into contact edge-toedge with the edge of the web I, a current then passed from one electrode to the other through the abutting edges to raise them to a high temperature whereupon they maybe joined by'presS- ing together. The projections 2 may be joined simultaneously at opposite edges from the web I. A succession of such projections may be welded to the edges successively. It will be understood, however, that any suitable welding method and apparatus may be employed.

Water.

It is important in some structures to maintain a wall which is continuous throughout its height between the piles so as to prevent the passage of newly-cast concrete, stone, earth and the like. A continuous welded joint between a web and an edge portion of such a difierent cross-section has disadvantages. The heating efiect of the welding operation causes a differential expansion of the parts, such that in the completed structure there are internal strains in them which lessen their resistance to the stresses of driving and use. These bad efi'ects' are avoided by the present scheme of building the edge, as in Fig. 2,

of pieces of slight length and with such slight spacing between them as to constitute in efiect a continuous wall between the two piles preventing the passage of practically everything but To stopthe passage of water, of course, other usual or suitable means would be applied.

The invention has been described particularly as a sheet piling. It may however be put to various other uses to which elongated steel structural members with shaped edges are adapted, efiecting economy in manufacture in many cases and providing a great flexibility in design to meet particular circumstances of use, Without substantial change in the apparatus or method of manufacture.

Various other modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is: 1. A metal pile having a body portion which is continuous in length and composed of a plurality of plies and edge portions each made up of projections slightly spaced apart which are shaped to interlock with edge portions of adjacent piles and which are separately formed with shanks of integral thickness, which are welded to the body portion along the edges of said plies.

2. An elongated metal structural member of the character described having a body portion which is continuous in length and an edge portion made up of shaped projections which are spaced apart lengthwise and are separately formed and welded to the body portion, said separately formed edge portions constituting in effect the entire edge of the member.

3. An elongated structural member of the character described having a body portion which is continuous in length and an edge portion made up of shaped projections of slight length separately formed and welded to the body portion with such slight spaces between them as to constitute in effect a continuous wall.

THOMAS E. MURRAY, JR. 

